This past week, the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association held its first ever virtual 2021 Sticky Cotton & Insect Review Summit, bringing together merchants, growers, gin managers, researchers, and PCAs together to discuss this important issue.  The summit began with a 2020 season in review by Bob Hutmacher with UCCE, followed with a presentation by Ian Grettenberger with UC Davis on aphids & whiteflies and best practices. Providing an update on the sticky cotton ginning research was Derek Whitelock, USDA ARS SWCGRL. President & CEO Roger Isom provided an insight of the legislative efforts surrounding pesticide registration/use in California. Four different chemical manufactures provided updates on aphid and whitefly tools.

The major focus and objective of the summit was on the prevention of sticky cotton. Multiple PCA’s discussed and provided some insight on what can be done to combat whitefly and aphids in the field and providing their thoughts were Bob Hutmacher, UCCE, Andy Gulley, Simplot, Tony Touma, and Nick Groenenberg.

Action items coming out of the meeting included the following:

• Here is the link to our website that including reports and materials related to Sticky Cotton
• Additional questions for growers to further assist on cotton research efforts *Note: Answers provided are anonymous

We would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s 2021 Sticky Cotton & Insect Review Summit.